Gears of War 3 - First Impressions

Finally a reason to dust of the old Xbox 360 with the only exclusive series worth a damn on the Microsoft system. Whereas the Halo series has struggled on the 360, Gears of War has been the epitome of next-gen gaming. Even though PS3 has some great exclusive titles in Resistance and Killzone, Gears of War is the original and best. I've been a fan since day one and I've been eagerly awaiting the third installment for a long time now.

Having tonight played through the entirety of Act 1 on Hardcore, all I can say is that GoW3 has not failed to deliver the goods. The graphics are stunning, the refinements to the gameplay are small but noticeable, the action is non-stop and the controls are still best in show. What's also noticeable now is there seems to be a lot more depth, to the story telling and the characters. There's still a whole bunch of cheesy one-liners and wisecracks, but the guys at Epic are at least trying to add something more to this story.

The game begins with a flashback gameplay sequence of Marcus Fenix attempting to rescue his father. After this, we see the crew now living on a ship, and the obligatory gathering of the crew for a new mission. After the nice cinematic intro it's straight into the action, and it's all so familiar yet still nearly perfect in every way. The shooting in this game just feels so satisfying. The controls are tight and it all comes naturally.

What's interesting about the first Act is that first you play the Marcus Fenix portion, then half way though you switch over to Cole Train and play out his story, the events of which eventually culminate in the same climax. This gives the game some really nice locations to explore from the get go and the action is full on. Gore, explosions and non stop action. Gotta love it. But it also gives the game some time to explore the Cole Train character, as well as showing some of the survivors still dealing with the enemy. Again, the depth to the story and characters is very noticeable here.

The graphics are great. and while there is the odd stutter here and there during cut scenes or transitions, the gameplay sections are always smooth. It's a testament to Epic at just how much pride they take in their product and just how much juice they're able to squeeze out of the now ageing 360.

I can't wait to get back into this game and finish the rest of the campaign. And then all of the other modes as well. This game is jam packed.

The New 52 Review: Green Arrow 1 and Hawk & Dove 1

I'm going to group these two reviews together because neither of these issues is very good and I won't waste your time or mine dissecting it. Needless to say, both titles offer very little in quality or distinction.

Let's start with Hawk & Dove. This one at least has a redeeming quality in that it does have some interesting things regarding the overall DC Universe and it's new continuity. However, it is a little convoluted and rather un-exciting. The artwork is typical Liefeld and by that I mean totally rubbish. Now Hawk has always been depicted as a hulking beast so that's right up Liefeld's alley, but it all just screams the worst of the 90's. So why would you read Hawk & Dove? No idea really. And it seems neither do DC.

Now Green Arrow is at least a character people have heard of. They may even have some fondness for him from some great runs from Denny O'neil, Kevin Smith and Brad Metzler. Here J.T Krul goes for something different. Green Arrow is now the head of Apple, or something like that. Who cares. The supporting characters are lame. The villains are lame. The lame attempts at pop-culture significance are lame. Green Arrow was alright in my books. Not sure I'm liking where this is going.

The New 52 Review: Swamp Thing #1

I'm not your typical fanboy. I don't get up in arms about continuity. I just want awesome comics. So I'm open minded about things which I think is exactly what DC Comics wants, so let's give them a shot. How does the new Swamp Thing stand up?

I love the Alan Moore Swamp Thing. But that's been and gone, and I'm interested in seeing where else the character can go. The big news is that Swamp Thing is back in the DC Universe, although the appearance of Superman in this issue feels a little shoehorned just to emphasize the point.

We meet Alec Holland, developing memories of a Swamp Thing. Superman drops in on him to see what's going on and talk about it all. The dialogue here is very good and supplies a lot of depth to the narrative without feeling like it's all exposition. Meanwhile, there's the Swamp Thing side of things and here it's a story of some archeologists who run into a neck-snapping foe. It's not the best origin story but where writer Scott Snyder succeeds is by mixing the Alec Holland story with a side story This side story brings some much needed horror overtones to the comic.

It appears that Swamp Thing and Alec will be two separate characters, at least for a little while, and it's an interesting way to look at the character. If the darker tone is maintained this will be a fun book.

The artwork is again excellent. DC are delivering the goods art wise on a lot of these new issues and it's good to see. I'm definitely excited for the next one in this series,

The New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1

It doesn't look like much of a reboot for Batman so far. I haven't been keeping up with the mythos for a long time now but this seems like a well written Batman story plain and simple. Is it good? Even very good? Yes, but with all the excitement regarding the reboot the lack of surprise in this title is somewhat disappointing.

So what we have here is a a strong Batman story. The fact that it's also the origin story for the Batman taking on the Joker helps to enhance what may have otherwise been far more pedestrian Batman fare. This title tries to hark back to classic Batman tales of yesteryear and it pulls it off well, but it's a little more nostalgic than original. The problem here is that it's not that hard to write Batman well. The cliffhanger ending promises intrigue and I'm hoping it delivers.

Yep...that's Batman alright.

The artwork here is a little up and down, some beautiful gory and grimy scenes are contrasted with iffy panels throughout. The Joker just doesn't look right on a few pages. I'm interested to see where this goes, and this is the saving grace for this relaunch, the fact that people will be giving the books a while to settle in before deciding whether to stick with it or not.

The New 52 Review: Action Comics #1

Now this is more like it. After the somewhat underwhelming first issue of Justice League, Grant Morrison delivers an excellent first issue in an all new start for Superman. This is a character that despite epitomising the very essence of superhero just never captured a great deal of comic book fan's attention. And I must admit I'm one of them. Superman always seemed so dull to me.

But Grant Morrison embraces the challenge of The New 52 and brings us the best version of Superman yet.
Finally Superman is interesting. Instead of focusing on humanizing superman, Morrison hones in on the alien aspect of the story, and in turn succeeds in making Superman unpredictable and fascinating. What we see here is an alien visitor trying to be heroic but at the same time showing more than a little anger, resilience and righteousness.

Oh No! Superman is a Commie robot from outerspace! 

As Superman goes about his vigilante business, his path crosses with that of a couple of other characters who will feature in this series; Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and of course Lex Luthor. It's hard to write Luthor badly, and Morrison gets him just right. Immediately Lex is on the case of Superman, determined that he is a dangerous alien who must be stopped and at any cost. Yep, it's on between Supes and Luthor.

The alter ego in this story is Clark Kent, seemingly bottling up the rage inside of Superman and going about his mild-mannered business in a mild-mannered way. I'm not sure how Morrison has in mind for the Superman/Clark Kent aspect but it will be interesting. Morrison is a master and this is a brilliant way to start things off.

Clark Kent or Harry Potter turned bum.

The artwork is brilliant. Morales is such a classic artist, his work is so crisp and gorgeous to look at, and his pacing and story-telling skills are second-to-none. It complements the story and even enhances it. Beautiful work.

This is such a great first issue, I can't wait for the next one.

DC Comics - The new 52

Have no fear my friends! The reviews of the first wave of DC reboots will be up later today.  I've read a few early reviews and it looks like there might be some really good new titles so I'm excited to get my hands on them and give you the verdict. Stay tuned!

DC Comics reboot - JLA 1 Review

The much anticipated DC Comics reboot is finally upon us, and it all starts with Justice League of America 1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. After all the hype and intrigue, I must say I'm more than a little underwhelmed. Here is the chance to start everything again, and what do we get? Standard superhero fare. Different, but really pretty much the same. As someone who hasn't read DC Comics for quite a while, and am completely out of the loop, I would guess I'm the exact type of reader DC Comics is targeting with this relaunch. And maybe I'm being a little harsh since this is the first issue out of 52 new first issues, and since we're starting 5 years in the past, there's a whole lot of story to unfold, but this is not the big bang I was expecting.

Things start of with Batman chasing down an unknown villain across rooftops in Gotham. The artwork is, as always by Jim Lee, simply brilliant. But the story telling is sub-par. The whole premise of everyone meets each other and they get off on the wrong foot but eventually they'll team up for the greater good just seems like the lazy way to kick off this whole universe.

What is it about the docks that continually attracts shady villain types? .

So Batman is chasing this villain, while himself being chased by the authorities, because we're in a world that fears and distrusts these new superheroes. How do we know? Because Batman tells us. Then Green Lantern shows up. Cue some witty banter and explosions galore and then it's off to meet Superman, who seems kind of pissed off, leading to the inevitable showdown between Bats and Supes in Issue 2. We're also slightly jarringly introduced to the would-be Cyborg and get some more lame exposition showing how the world is confused about these new emerging superheroes.

Green Lantern is such a douche...

It seems like DC have played it very safe here. I don't understand the point of rebooting an entire universe only to make it the same as before, but I'm willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt and see where it leads. If nothing else, Jim Lee's art is beautiful. Let's see what the rest of the titles have to offer.